Back in May Acer teased us with the announcement of its suped-up, hardcore gaming rig, the Aspire Predator. There's still no word on when we'll see this bad boy in the wild; but in the meantime, Acer is teasing us yet again with the announcement of its new 50,000:1 contrast ratio, LCD monitor, the 24-inch Acer G24. That's fifty thousand, like with four zeros. And just like its Predator announcement, there is no word on when the G24 will be available or how much it will cost. Perhaps Acer is taking a high-toned stance on these enthusiast-grade products: If you have to ask how much they cost, then you probably can't afford them. Or perhaps Acer is waiting for the economy to turn around before unleashing these potentially very-expensive products on our unsuspecting wallets? Regardless of Acer's motivation for dangling these tech-toys just out of our reach, here's what we know about the G24...


"Staying at the forefront of technology, the G24 includes Acer Adaptive Contrast Management (ACM), and is the world's first LCD monitor supporting up to 50,000:1 for outstanding contrast ratio. Acer ACM produces dramatic improvement in gradation and detail, especially for dimmer and brighter scenes, resulting in stunning picture quality. Acer ACM also enables the G24 to use less power and save energy."

A 50,000:1 contrast ratio seems almost mind-boggling. In fact, the only other display devices we could readily find that purport to also have a 50,000:1 contrast ratios are LCD TVs in Samsung's A750 line such as the 52-inch, LN52A750. While Acer doesn't say so, it is a certain bet that the 50,000:1 contrast ratio is a dynamic contrast ratio and not a static contrast ratio. Combined with the stated 400-nit (a.k.a. cd/m²) brightness, if the G24 lives up to its specs it should be capable of displaying deep black levels as well as bright, crisp images.

The widescreen display's native resolution is 1,920x1200 and features a 2ms gray-to-gray response time. The G24 includes an HDMI input--once again, while Acer does not specifically mention if the display is HDCP compliant or not, the fact that the press release mentions using the display with Blue-ray players and set-top boxes, HDCP compliance is a good assumption.

Similar to the Acer Predator, the G24's design uses an "extreme contrast of orange-black colors and sleek contours." At least Acer isn't calling the obviously orange color "deep metallic copper" anymore, as it did when it first announced the Predator.

So, sit back, save your pennies, and wait. Acer is bound to make the G24 and Predator available someday. When it finally does, we'll try to get them both in at HotHardware and put them through the paces to see if they truly live up to their specs and expected high price tags.